LOS ANGELES  The money orders arrive each year at the Los Angeles County Treasurer and Tax Collector's office to pay the property taxes on the boyhood home of Clippers owner Donald Sterling. The name on the money orders is the owner of record, Sarah Chasa Tokovitz  Sterling's grandmother, long since dead.

The same method of payment is used for another property across North St. Louis Street in the Boyle Heights neighborhood, and the name on those money orders matches the owner of record, Sora Tokowitz, who also went by the name Sylvia, according to immigration records. She is Sterling's mother, who has been dead since the 1980s, according to former tenants who said they lived at the property for 30 years.

In all, there are 49 money orders in the public record, dating to 2001, that bear the women's full names, last names or initials. The return address listed on the money orders is the same for both women: Brentwood Towers, an apartment complex in upscale West Los Angeles owned by Sterling, according to records reviewed by USA TODAY Sports.

Among the residents is Sterling's 73-year-old sister, Marilyn Pizante, who has has overseen the seven units on North St. Louis for years and has said she owns them, current and former tenants said.

California law requires the death of a homeowner to be reported to the county assessor  a step that triggers a reassessment of the property at market value and typically a property tax increase. The responsibility to report the death falls upon the surviving spouse or partner, executor of the will, administrator of the estate or the successor trustee of the trust. The report must be made within 150 days of the death to avoid penalties, according to the Los Angeles County Assessor's Office....

In 2013, the property tax for Sterling's boyhood home was $603.66; the tax for the property listed in his mother's name was $1,545.11. Based on their current market value, the combined annual taxes would be at least $13,000.

Jessica Burton, a real estate agent who said she has been helping Sterling's sister with the properties for the past several weeks, said Pizante would not comment for the story. A woman who answered a phone number that a tenant said was Pizante's declined to comment.

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There's much more at the linked story, including references to Sterling and Stiviano checking out work being done at the houses. Exactly how much Sterling himself may have been involved in this remains to be seen.

There's much more at the linked story, including references to Sterling and Stiviano checking out work being done at the houses. Exactly how much Sterling himself may have been involved in this remains to be seen.

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